


I Thought You Had Forgotten

by debwalsh



Series: Deb’s Fictober Surprise! [14]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Apologies, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Starting Over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 02:33:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debwalsh/pseuds/debwalsh
Summary: Bucky searches for a way to convince Steve he loves him. Steve searches for his words.Riley loves the romance, Sam is good. If practical, bro.





	I Thought You Had Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> One more step on the road to reconciliation. The boys informed me this afternoon that they're taking over the next prompt, too.

 

 

Over the next thirty-six hours, Bucky barely slept, poring through their yearbooks, scrapbooks, thumb drives, even junk drawer full of brochures from places they’d visited. All with the intent of identifying the perfect date to take his husband on.

What he was looking for was something meaningful, something they’d done together that had made Steve so happy, it would be a pleasure to revisit the memory. Not a huge moment, like the day they got married, but a small moment that shone all on its own.

He smacked himself on the forehead when he realized he’d been carrying it in his pocket all this time.

His lock screen.

His favorite picture of Steve and him, beaming at the camera while around them, people carried baskets of apples, posed on hay bales, and waited for the twilight hay ride on a crisp autumn night. It had been taken during their senior year in high school, the night they’d agreed they weren’t going to let a country between them end their relationship.

The decision, the certainty, had made their senior year all the sweeter, believing, knowing, that at the end of it, they would still be together.

That was ten years ago, Bucky realized with a start. A worthy anniversary. The day their lives together truly began. Even though they’d still had almost an entire year of high school, plus four years of college, to go, that was the night they made the decision that directed those next five years.

It was October 15. The place was outside the city, a train ride and Lyft away. They hadn’t been back since that night, four years in different cities, then starting their careers, marriage, adulting all getting in the way. First he needed to confirm they were still in existence, then ...

&&&

“Not that it’s not nice to have someone footing the bill for dinner, and doing the dishes after, but how long do you think you can hold out, hmmm?”

Steve looked up from where he was elbows-deep in soap suds, and started guiltily.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to overstay my welcome -“

“Shit, it’s not that. We love having you here - and I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass. Having you here takes the edge of Riley’s nesting instinct. And you know I love you, man. I didn’t ask how long you’re staying - I asked how long can you hold out?”

“But -“

“How long can you stay mad at Barnes?”

Steve sighed, rinsed off the plate he was washing, and put it in the drain board. Then he pulled off the gloves that kept his hands from getting all water-wrinkly. “It’s not so much that I’m mad ... it’s that i just can’t bring myself to put myself back into that dynamic, you know? Something’s gotta change. And yeah, Riley pointed out that I’m at fault, too. But I gotta see a change in Bucky. Gotta see that he realizes how he’s acted. And I think I do? I mean, we text. He’s respected my need to have some time to think, so he hasn’t pressed. That’s a good thing, right?”

“When you two start talking, and you both start listening, that’s when I’ll agree it’s a good thing.  When do you think you’ll get to that stage?”

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s been two days. I guess ... I guess I’m waiting for him to make the first move.”

“But if he’s respecting your space, he might not think it’s his place to make the first move.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it. I think ... I think maybe if he doesn’t say anything about wanting to talk it out by tomorrow, maybe I’ll bring it up?”

“You ready for that talk?”

“I don’t know. But I do know that I want to try. And maybe it doesn’t have to solve everything, y’know? Maybe we just take the first step.”

Sam smiled then, a blinding, gap-toothed smile of approval and pleasure. “That’s what I wanted to hear. You go into this with reasonable expectations, realistic goals, you got this.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

&&&

“Yeah, so I got this package.”

“Uh-huh.”

“To deliver?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Oh, yeah. It’s um, it’s addressed to ... Steve Rogers? He here?”

“He could be. Who’s it from?”

“Oh, I um, I’d have to look that up.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, you want me to do that? Well, that’s extra, man.”

“Well, that’s bullshit, sugar. I am not letting a strange package into my home without knowing who it’s from.”

“Leave the poor guy alone, Rile. There’s only one person it could be from. Here, I’ll sign for it.”

“You Steve Rogers?”

“You asking for ID?”

“Nah.”

“Then, sure, I’m Steve Rogers. Give it here, brainac.”

&&&

Steve held the creamy linen card up from the envelope and read, “The pleasure of your company is humbly requested.”

Standing across the room with his arms crossed over his chest, Sam scoffed, and muttered, “Your boy’s gotten into the Disney movies again, hasn’t he?”

“There’s a train ticket and a Lyft voucher,” Steve added, peering into the envelope.

Riley smiled, sitting on the edge of the couch like this was the best entertainment ever. “I dunno. I kinda like it. Romantic and mysterious.”

Sam snorted. “Or creepy and weird. Well, at least he put some effort into it.”

“Samuel, you’d best find your inner romantic and stat. I am so disappointed in your all-too-practical self. Where did the romance go?”

“Ugh. Okay. Yes, it’s so romantic, my li’l heart is just beatin’ right out of my chest with anticipation! Better?”

Riley arched an unimpressed eyebrow, and deadpanned, “Oh. Much. Remind me to trade up next time, will ya, sugar?”

“It’s tomorrow night. Think I should go?” Steve asked worriedly

“I think you’d be crazy not to,” Riley exclaimed at the same time Sam warned, “Not so fast -“

“Sam,” Riley admonished. “Even you said at least he’s trying. They have to start somewhere. Why not on an adventure?”

Sam sauntered over and looked at the ticket in Steve’s hand. “Rye is not an adventure. It’s a life sentence.”

“It’s suburbia, I’ll give you that. You’re not the suburban type,” he shook head, looking Steve up and down.

“No. But, I dunno, maybe it’s some fancy place to eat or something.”

“Your invite says ‘dress comfortably’. Doesn’t sound so fancy to me.”

“Maybe I owe it to myself to find out,” Steve said quietly, staring at the ticket.

“That’s my boy,” Riley crowed from his seat, clapping his fists together.

&&&

Bucky was nervous. He hadn’t asked Steve to confirm he’d accepted his invitation, and now he was regretting that little detail. He was practically freezing his fine ass off in fucking West Chester County, standing in an orchard slash corn maze, hoping that his husband had read his invite as the mea culpa and please talk to me it was meant to be.

The scent of wood fire, laced with the delicate aroma of warm apple cider, filled the frosty air. A contained blaze threw out a nimbus of heat, while cider stations throughout the property enticed patrons to stop and have a warm, tasty drink. The apple cider donuts were made in the barn, and brought out in large batches, only to disappear almost instantly. He’d been eying the barn door for the past ten minutes, waiting for the next wave. A man can resist only so long ...

His hunger pangs were interrupted by the arrival of a car, the same car linked to his Lyft reservation in his app.

Steve.

Bucky drew his shoulders back, and straightened his spine. Nervously, he smoothed back his hair and stepped forward to get the door.

“Buck,” Steve greeted, exiting the car to rubberneck at the roadside attraction. “The cider place!”

“What better place to make a promise?” Bucky asked. He hadn’t rehearsed, not really, but the way Steve looked around him in awe and delight, he knew it was what he had to say. Whether it was the right thing or not ...

“I thought you had forgotten,” Steve shook his head, smiling as he waved at the Lyft driver exiting the parking area. “This is where -“

“We promised we’d always be together, no matter how far apart we were. This is where we really started our lives together.”

Steve nodded, tears collecting in his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”

“And this is where i wanna promise you that I see you, baby,” Bucky said, as he came closer and extended his hands to Steve. Steve paused only a second before he put his hands in Bucky’s and took a step closer. “I hear you. I wanna know what’s going on with you, always, what makes you happy, what makes you made, what makes you nuts, and what just chaps your ass. I’m never going to let things get so bad between us that you don’t want to live with me anymore. I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, but I need you to know that I will not take you for granted again. I won’t assume and I won’t ignore. I love you, Steve. I always have and I always will. Til the end of the line, the end of the world, the end of the fucking universe.”

“I ... wow. Can you really, though? I mean, this went on a long time, and yeah, I didn’t use my words and outright tell you it hurt, but couldn’t you see -“

“I wasn’t looking. I expected you to react a certain way. I was wrong and I was stupid. I’ll do everything I can not to do it again. And you -“

“And I promise to ‘use my words’ - Sam made me promise him too. Riley made me promise I’d do this,” Steve said, stepping into Bucky’s space and brushing his lips across Bucky’s. “Because I love you, too. We gotta learn to check in with each other more, not assume.”

“Yes. Yes, baby, I promise,” Bucky agreed, and kissed Steve back enthusiastically, only to break apart to the sound of applause.

They’d drawn a crowd, these two stupid boys kissing like mad at the edge of the parking lot, and that crowd loved lovers. Blushing and grinning, they both waved at the assemblage, then turned back to each other, each with a soft smile meant only for the other.

“Apple cider donuts first, because they have been killing me with that delicious smell. Then a hay ride? You’n’me, just like before?”

“Oh, I don’t plan to get straw in my shorts this time, but if you play your cards right ...” Steve waggled his eyebrows comically at Bucky.

Bucky leaned forward and kissed Steve on the tip of his nose, his smile broadening. “It’s a deal.”

END 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for sticking with me!


End file.
